Diane Black memo: Tracy, Zelenik splitting vote in Rutherford Co.

State Sen. Diane Black has opened a 19-percentage point lead, and tea party candidate Lou Ann Zelenik has pulled slightly ahead of Sen. Jim Tracy, according to the results of a telephone survey conducted by the Black campaign.

In a memo provided to InSession (you’ll need a recent version of Word to read it), pollsters say Black took 41 percent of the vote in a survey taken late last month, compared to 22 percent for Zelenik and 20 percent for Tracy. Zelenik polled just 7 percent in the 6th Congressional district back in April, according to the memo:

“Senator Black’s lead is built on rock-solid support in the State Senate district where she already has won two elections … while Jim Tracy is splitting his state district much more evenly.”

Black was the choice of 73 percent of likely Republican voters in her senatorial district, according to the memo. In Tracy’s district, meanwhile, Tracy took 40 percent of the vote and Zelenik 30 percent.

Much of Zelenik’s support comes from tea party voters. Zelenik takes 46 percent of tea partiers, compared with 38 percent for Black and 8 percent for Tracy.